BMOC 1 First Day of School
by David D. Amaya
Summary: The Big Mutant On Campus Series Part 1: In this first installment of a new series arc, five new students and a new instructor, arrive at the Massachusetts Academy for Gifted Youngsters.
1. Chapter 1

**The "Big Mutant On Campus" Series**  
**By David D. Amaya**

**Part One "First Day of School"  
_Chapter 1_**

_**Disclaimer**_

The X-Men, generation X and all related characters are the property of Marvel Comics Group.

All original characters are mine and I hold all copyrights to them all.

Elements of this story were formed from the fan fiction story arc "A Friend in Need" By Somogyi, and are used with her permission. (Thanks again Somogyi :)

All facilities and landmark images are property of their respective owners.

NOTE; This story takes place five months after _"Opening Night"_ and immediately after the events in _"First Mutant"_

* * *

"Well Lariat, I guess this is were I ride off into the sunset. I've all ready informed the Director, but now it's your turn. I'm hangin' up my six-shooters for good," Special Agent Charles Block reported. "This will be my last assignment for the Service."

"Well if anyone has earned retirement, it is certainly you, you old bloodhound," said Special Agent Kordel Nichols. "The Service will never replace a legend like you, Charlie."

"Well, from what the X-Men told me about your field trip to the track and the museum, I'd say you are on our way, Kordel," The Director of the United States Secret Service added. "But he's right, Charlie, I'd wish I had five agents like you, just on Uniformed Detail."

"Well, that's a nice thing to say, but it will be hard to get the Quartermaster to start issuing ten-gallon Stetsons for the Guard Tower. Well, I'll be all right. Now I can use all my spare time around the Lazy-Q perfecting my five-alarm chili recipe for the tourist season. Take care, Kordel. And as the saying goes, if you ever come to Texas, look me up."

And with a hug from Charlie, and a handshake from the Director, Special Agent Kordel Nichols begins a new chapter in his tenure with the United States Secret Service.

As the principal agent in charge of guarding Cyrus Parkman, the son of President Anthony Harrison Parkman, he faces a daunting task, even for any experienced Secret Service agent.

_However, that all changed one day with an explosion._

For you see, Cyrus Parkman isn't just any 12-year-old boy, he isn't even your typical First Kid.

Cyrus Parkman _is a mutant._

Gifted with the ability to charge any inanimate object with explosively released biokinetic energy, he can turn almost anything he touches into a bomb. It was a secret he shared with few, hiding it from even his parents. But, a kidnapping and murder plot, foiled by the X-Men, with the aid of Agent Nichols, stopped a power play meant to destroy mutant-kind.

Now, after months of accelerated rehabilitation and intensive special training, under orders of the President himself. He stands in front of the Massachusetts Academy for Gifted Youngsters. Home to a school for a group of young mutants, like Cyrus, all learning to control and utilize their mutant abilities.

A group of young heroes calling themselves Generation X.

"Come on, Lariat!" The President's son called from the doorway of their new home. "You need to tell me what you been up to the last five months. Start at the point when we last met and when you get to NOW, slow down."

* * *

Blissfully driving north on Highway 7, a black Cadillac Escalade is making its way to Snow Valley, as well. Inside, three teenagers are doing what always drives the Naval officer who is driving, crazy. Singing along to New Wave songs.

What these three teenagers share in common (other than they are enjoying the torture of the classical music-loving three-star admiral), is the fact that they are all mutants, and like the President's son, are also on their way to attending the Massachusetts Academy.

"Mea aloha," Vice Admiral Thomas Kaulalona lovingly addressed his daughter, Alea sitting next to him. "Do you intend on continuing this all the way to your new kula hãnai?"

"Of course not, Admiral K," Nathan McPherson answered. "We'll call you and drive you crazy the rest of the way to the airport!"

"Besides," Stewart MacKenzie. chimed in. "You have to kill time while you're stuck waiting for that PX flight somehow."

"Speaking of killing time, Yoink," Alea asked. "How long did Iakona say he was going to be behind us?"

"The last thing he told me and Nuff was he'd be about an hour or so. He was going to ride his motorcycle to le école."

"Yea," Nuff replied. "He told me he had to wait for the realtor to sign some papers, and then he'd be on his way."

"I'll call him to see how far behind he is," Alea dialed a number by heart. "Aloha, my overgrown, Stitch!" Everyone in the Escalade chuckled at their friend's nickname. "Is your kîkala pai stuck to the seat yet? … Well, we are all toasty warm in here, as long as Yoink behaves! … 'Auhea 'oe? … He's in Canaan. Well we passed there half an hour ago and we're almost there, so I guess we'll be there to help thaw you out … Not in front of my makuakane, loe pa'a he kakake! … All right then mãlama pono! Aloha au iã 'oe, Iakona."

* * *

"SHIELD? Looking for a new line of work, Lariat?"

"No, Cyrus," Agent Nichols explained as the President's son unpacked his things. "But you do not trust only one person with a protection assignment, so your father ordered Colonel Fury to have me train with SHIELD. I learned more in the last four months than I had throughout my entire career!

"Fury named it 'Operation: Goldbrick.' I was teamed with three Level 9 field agents, and they turned out to be outstanding instructors, but Fury seemed to embrace the Drill Instructor role the most, especially the first day.

* * *

"Nichols meet 'Team Goldbrick!'" The SHIELD Executive Director bellowed at the four of them on the lower deck of the UNN Alpha. "The President tells me _'I need another flamin' Captain America, Nick, so my boy can grow up to be like his Uncle Jake!'_ but I reply _'no can do, **sir**!'_ Now kiddies why is that!? Agent 13!?"

"Because there can only be one Sentinel of Liberty!"

"Damnit, Carter!! That ain't the right answer!! _That's yer Aunt Peggy talkin'!_ **Cap!?**"

"The Super Soldier formula process has yet to be reproduced, sir!"

"Hell no! _Thanks for playing our game!!_ Dum-Dum don't screw up on me!"

"Because Cap'n America ain't never been or gonna be- "

"Say it!"

"_**No low-down stinkin' Red Sox fan!" **_

"**CORRECT-A-MOONDO!!"**

* * *

"That was disheartening to hear, seeing that Agent Dugan was born in raised in Boston."

"Well, don't take that Sox crack personally, Lariat, I met Nick when I was younger, Uncle Jake said Fury's from Hell's Kitchen makes him a pathetic Yankees fan. I guess there's no accounting for taste in SHIELD."

"Thank you, Mr. Parkman."

"So, learn anything fun?"

"Well, Cyrus, we cross-trained with _every_ division the Helicarrier has. Sidearm Tactical Room Entry, Military Strategy, Multi-Hostage Breach, Sniper Trailing, Helicopter repelling, Field Emergency Medical Training, just about _every_ kind of weapon you can think of, and non-stop cardiovascular and weight training with Captain America."

"Captain America? **THE** _Captain America_?" Kordel nodded. "**COOL**! I hope you remember everything he teaches you!"

"I only hope to never have to use any of those skills. So, how do you like the change of scenery, Cyrus?"

"Well there's no Felm-wad to beat up anymore, and I don't have to wear those **UGLY** Sidwell blazers again, _EVER_! I felt like an usher at the Tacoma Dome! I'm glad they don't have a dress code at this school.

"Speaking of this school, where are the rest of the students? I haven't seen anyone under 30 but you and me."

"Sean said they have a class in another part of the campus, and four new students are supposed to arrive before the X-Men, so we shall all get introduced in a short while."

"You know, Lariat, I'm feeling a little hungry. Let's raid the fridge!"

---

Entering the spacious kitchen, Kordel opened the refrigerator door to find it well stocked. The presence of numerous teenagers evident due to the large amounts of soft drinks and snacks.

"What do you feel like eating, Cyrus?"

The last time he was asked that question, was by a Naval steward, new to the White House kitchen. A steward, who by fulfilling the youngsters order, was promptly removed from White House service, because of the First Lady's objection to what she served her son.

However, as she is now 400-miles to the south, he goes for broke and orders it once again, verbatim.

"I feel like a punch bowl, filled with Chocolate Covered Sugar Bombs!"

"I shall see if they have it here," Nichols replied as he opens the first cupboard he comes across. Upon opening it he finds that Angelo Espinosa, a student they have yet to meet, had taken the liberty to stock the _entire_ cupboard with Jubilee's favorite breakfast (and lunch, and occasionally _dinner_) cereal.

"_**JACKPOT**_!" Cyrus exclaims as he reaches inside a lower cabinet, takes out a large plastic mixing bowl, grabs a spoon from the counter, then reaches for one of the _**22**_ boxes of the small coco-colored pellets and pours half the box into the bowl.

"Pass the milk and **STAND BACK**! _This could get ugly!_"

Agent Nichols grabs another box and begins to read the ingredients, as the President's son begins to devour the contents of the bowl before the milk turns chocolaty.

_"Sodium ascorbate, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Trisodium phosphate--"_

"Yep," Cyrus replies. "Just like momma used to make! Well, that is if First Mom had ever made a kid's cereal. Hey, Sean!" he welcomes the Irishman as he walked in the kitchen. "Where's everyone else at?"

"They are wrapping up an '_assignment_,' " he replied. "Right now the rest of the new students just arrived. Would you like to meet them, lad?"

"Well, I'm gonna be living with them, so might as well say hi now, before I scare 'em later," he replied as he drank the remaining milk straight out of the bowl, then joined Agent Nichols and Sean to the foyer.

* * *

"_Bonté_!" Yoink looked aghast. "This residence has to be at least 200-years old!"

"Actually, lad the Academy was formed in 1700 as a boarding school for the American colonial gentry," Sean told the Canadian. "Good morning to you all, and welcome to the Massachusetts Academy for Gifted Youngsters. I'm Sean Cassidy, Headmaster," He extended his hand to the Hawaiian man in the dress blue Naval uniform with three stars on each shoulder.

"Aloha kakahiaka, Mr. Cassidy, Vice Admiral Thomas Jefferson Kaulalona, United States Navy, Pacific Fleet. However, please call me Thom. This is my kaikamahine, Alea-"

"Aloha kakahiaka."

"And our 'ohana holo'oko'a, Nathan McPherson -"

"Everyone calls me Nuff."

"And his cousin, Stewart MacKenzie."

"Bonjour. Enchanté, Monsieur Cassidy. You can call me Yoink. Everyone else does."

"Please to meet all of you, this is our other new student-"

"Cyrus," He interjected holding out his hand to his new classmates. "They call me Kilowatt, but my good friends just call me 'Watt."

"Pleased, to meet you, 'Watt," Alea shook his hand. "Uh, by the way, you got this milk mustache-thing going on," she added gesturing to her upper lip, causing him to wipe his face sheepishly. "These are Yoink and Nuff."

"You look familiar," Yoink commented as he shook his hand.

"Yea," Nuff chimed in. "I've seen you before haven't I?"

"Well, that depends," He replied, worried about their reaction to the truth. "I'm from Seattle, were you guys from?"

"My kaikamahine and I were both born and raised in Pearl Harbor on Oahu-"

"While my cousin's from Prince Edward Sound, Alaska, I'm from Destruction Bay, in the Canadian Yukon. Oh, excusez-moi," the Canadian noticed the gentleman standing by Sean. "I didn't see you there," he extended his hand to Agent Nichols. "Quel est votre nom?"

"This is Kordel, but I call him Lariat," Cyrus replied. "He's from Boston and he's teaching here now."

"Please to meet you," Alea shook his hand. "I can't help to think I've seen you before, too."

"Wait a second," the wheels in Nuff's head turning quickly. "We've seen you on TV, right? Ain't you with the FBI or something?"

"Close, Mr. McPherson, I am Kordel Nichols," he said producing his badge. "Special Agent, United States Secret Service."

Cyrus slowly looked up at Agent Nichols with a look of shear surprise.

"They would have found out in another hour or so when Jubilee arrives." He explains.

He sighed and turned back to the newcomers. "I guess you're right," He then nervously looked to the ground and began to kick at the dirt. "My full name is Cyrus James Parkman."

"I knew I've seen you before," Yoink exclaims. "_Attendre_, wouldn't that mean that you, I mean your dad is -"

"The son of a lumberjack from Aberdeen.

"Okay, Okay, Okay. He's also the President." _Damn_! He thought._ I thought that wouldn't matter here!_

"Well of course it would matter here, Kulo," Alea replied aloud. "If we are going to be friends, we have to be open and honest with each other. Oh yea, by the way, I have some telepathic abilities, but my main kãhuli makana is the ability to turn into molten lava."

She pulled back her sleeve and raised her hand so they all can see, and said something in Hawaiian. "_**Ahi hele ke me ia'u!**_" Her hand began to glow an orange-red, then an immensely hot ball of fire began to dance on her hand.

"And I can make things turn cold," Yoink said wiggling his fingers at Alea's fireball, making it freeze solid in a matter of seconds. Alea removed her hand and the frozen lava ball fell to the ground shattering into a million shards.

"Frozen little showoff!"

_**"Gacer île sœur!"**_

"Neutral corners, children!" The Admiral admonished, a veteran of many squabbles of their opposite abilities create.

"Well, I don't have anything that flashy," Nuff said. "I can absorb the strength of whatever I touch." He clapped his hands together loudly. "Now pay attention to this," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver dollar. Holding it in front of him, he concentrated on it until the two fingers holding the coin was enveloped in a soft white light. "Now listen." He clapped again, But this time the sharp sound of flesh colliding with flesh was replaced with the clanging of a church bell.

"What happened?"

"Well my body is now as strong as this coin. You should see me in a fight after I touch a brick!"

"At least we're on the same side!"

"Excuse me," Sean interrupted. "But wasn't there supposed to be four of ye comin' to school?"

"Yes," The Admiral replied. "Jason had to stay behind briefly, he will be arriving shortly."

"Well, what about you 'Watt?" Alea asked "What is your gift?"

"You know Gambit, right? Well it's kinda like that." He replied reaching into his pocket and pulled a letter he was going to rip up anyway, folded it into a paper airplane, charged it, and then let it fly. After thirty feet, it exploded softly and fell to earth in flames, extinguishing itself in the snow.

"Now that was cleaver!" Alea said as Nuff and Yoink nodded in approval.

"And what of you, Agent Nichols?" Alea asked him. "What kãhuli makana do you possess?"

"I do not possess any mutant abilities, Miss. Kaulalona," Agent Nichols replied.

While this struck Nathan and Stewart as rather odd. The Admiral and his daughter shrugged it off.

"Hey, you hüpõs, the makua ali'i tests negative also, but he has helped us all those years!"

The statement, simple yet sensible, seemed to ease their minds.

"Look at it this way," Cyrus replied. "That makes him the _'white sheep'_ of the family."

As the group walked in the doorway they were introduced to the White Queen, Headmistress Emma Frost, who shook their hands.

"Sean, the other students are finished with their '_assignment_,' and are inside the biosphere."

"Thank ye, Emma. Now if I can have the students follow me this way."

Alea, Cyrus, Nathan and Stewart all began to follow Sean out the door, Agent Nichols walked out with Cyrus.

"Agent Nichols," Emma addressed the Secret Service Agent. "You may feel free to join Admiral Kaulalona, Sean, and I for tea in the study."

_**"I stay with the President's son."**_

While not unexpected, especially considering the way Cyrus was first introduced to the school, it was not what the others had in mind.

"_Hey, Hey, __**Hey!**_" He interjected. "What about that _'freedom and responsibility' _stuff! You guys weren't feeding me a line in front of the Director, were you?"

"But Cyrus-"

"Stop worrying, Lariat," Cyrus then turned to his new classmates. "Hey, guys, if anything happens to me, you don't mind roasting 'em, freezing 'em, then beating 'em into a bloody pulp, do you?"

"_**MIND**_!?" Nathan replied. "Heck, if Jay were here he's do it just because there isn't anything to watch on TV on a Saturday afternoon!"

With those words, and a sense of conflicting instincts, Agent Nichols watched as the four new members of Generation X meets the rest of Generation X.

* * *

_Students, your new classmates are now on their way to the biosphere. Remember, they are new to the Xavier Academy, and its' grounds, __**play nice!**_

"Okay, Ms. Frost," Paige Guthrie replied. "Here they come, Artie, Leech, you know what to do."

A projection of a large hand giving a thumbs up.

"Artie ready, Leech ready, too!"

Paige then ran fast away deep into the biosphere.

* * *

"Yes, Iakona, we're already here… Yes, one of the instructors is taking us to their biosphere. Just walk around the right side of the main building and through the black double doors…. Mr. Cassidy says we'll be in here getting acquainted with the other students for a while. Aloha au iã 'oe, hu'ahu'a 'eke! I have to go, see you in a bit. Kã hea mai when you get here, bye, Jay!" Alea put her cell phone away in her coat pocket. "That was my boyfriend, Jay," she explained to Cyrus. "He's just crossing the Stateline. He'll be right here, Mr. Cassidy."

"That'll be fine, lass," he replied, opening the large door that enclosed the Academy's biosphere.

To the four standing in the doorway, the view was breathtaking. Nestled in a geodesic dome the size of a football stadium was a scientifically controlled environment with several species of vegetation that could never be able to coexist in the same environmental plane. But to the four young students soaking up the sight for the first time it was the equivalent of looking upon Eden. As each of them loves the serine calm of nature, the biosphere would itself have been enough to wish to enroll here. Just inside were two little boys. One was green with large black eyes, the other was pink and projected a large hand that waved at them.

"Hi, my name is Leech. My friend is Artie."

Alea stepped forward. "Aloha, iki aikãne! I'm Alea," she knelt extending her hand, "These are my friends, Nuff, Yoink, and 'Watt," she pointed to each of them, who waved back at them.

"I'll let ye alone so you can get better acquainted with the rest of the students." He then exited the biosphere.

"Bon grâces, this place is _magnifique_!"

"This place reminds me of home already!" Cyrus exclaimed. "My **REAL** home. I haven't seen a real forest since Oz and me were on Bainbridge Island!"

"Hey, Leech," Nuff asked. "Where are the rest of the students? Jubilee said there were seven other students going here."

Artie projected an arrow that pointed deep into the biosphere.

"Artie says '_this way_!' "

"Well, Artie," Yoink replied. "Lead the way."

* * *

"…When I was given my orders handing command of Pearl to me, Alea and 'ohana holo'oko'a had already started the new school year, so it made better sense to allow them to at least finish the semester."

"How long have Stewart, Nathan, and Jason been in your care, Admiral?"

"Please, ko'u hoaloha, Thom will do. Well they are all legally emancipated minors, except my kaikamahine of course. It may seem out of the ordinary, but it is what we have accepted as our 'ohona."

" 'Ohona?"

" 'Ohona is the Hawaiian concept of family, which in our homeland doesn't necessarily mean relatives, in much the same way '_house'_ doesn't necessarily mean '_home_.' Ever since we accepted them into our lives they are 'ohana holo'oko'a, our extended family."

Sean, Emma, and Thom were all seated in comfortable armchairs while Agent Nichols stood slightly to the Admiral's right, barely touching his tea. Used to being in conference settings, much like this, as part of his Secret Service duties protecting various lawmakers, he intent to be _'professionally invisible,'_ but Sean addressed him, believing, he thought he was being ignored.

"Kordel, have you had a chance to unpack your things?"

"Yes, I have Sean."

"Do you have your lesson plans made out for your courses, Kordel."

"Yes, I do, Emma."

"Is there something wrong, Agent Nichols?"

"No, Admiral. I am sorry if I seem out of touch, but the last time I was away from Kilowatt…. Well, _Sean knows_. All my instincts tell me something is wrong, I should be with Cyrus at this moment."

"Don't worry yourself, lad. The student's will be fine. They are just being welcomed by the rest of their classmates."

* * *

"WOW!" Cyrus exclaimed marveling at the lush terrain. "I wished I had brought my camera, Oz has got to get a load of this place!"

"How much farther until we get there, little angels?" Alea asked.

Artie projected a road sign that read _**'Next Stop.'**_

"Artie says, _'almost there.'_" Leech translated.

* * *

"…So after the commencement ceremony at BU, I went straight to the Causeway Avenue office and submitted my transfer request. The current Director was the Agent-In-Charge of the Boston Field office since I began there when I was still in high school, so as regional director, he helped fast-track my application. Four years in Enforcement Division, and here I am."

"Fascinating," the Admiral replied. "And what of Cyrus? How has he been handling the events of his kidnapping all these months?"

"Those events are classified, Admiral. I can not divulge that information."

"Son, I have Top Level Pentagon clearance and Level 9 SHIELD Code White clearance. I've been reading 'Eyes Only' documents since you were still in diapers."

"I must apologize, Admiral Kaulalona, but under Executive Order 84220, _'any and all information gathered concerning the kidnapping, rescue and all subsequent pertinent information about Cyrus J. Parkman is classified.'"_

* * *

"…So Jubilee tells me that's when Jean strangled Woods with her powers."

"**Damn**!" They all exclaimed, marveling at the story the President's son just told about his own brush with death.

"Are you okay, 'Watt?"

"Yea, well, kinda. Sometimes I still get nightmares of running into those guns with Jubilee on 14th Street. Jean has been helping me shuffle the images in my melon, but she won't erase all the crappy parts, so sometimes it gets hard to close my eyes."

Artie and Leech stopped in front of a large tree. There were planks nailed to its trunk leading to a large tree house at the base of its branches.

"We here!" Leech announced. "This our tree house. Artie and Leech live here!"

"COOL!" Cyrus exclaimed. "Oz and I had one when we were living in Bellevue! Can I climb inside it?"

A large yellow smiley-face appeared and began to nod, but Leech whispered in Artie's ear and the face quickly turned into a frown and shook its head.

"Sorry, but you can't climb to tree house."

"Why not?"

Suddenly the ground lowered, a large cargo net had lifted the four new students off the ground and ensnared them.

* * *

"Bet it'll be good to be back with the rest of the gang."

"Yea, Wolvmister," Jubilee answered. "I just hope they haven't used that big 'ol jungle trap on the new guys yet."

"Is this okay with you, Sweetie?" Jean asked giving her a squeeze. "If you think you're not quite ready yet-"

"Oh, come off it '_mommy_.' Don't tell me you're afraid for me to leave the nest, again?"

"It isn't that," Scott patted the teenager's hand. "We want to make sure that your transition back to your classmates is smooth as possible."

Riding aboard the Blackbird, several members of the X-Men were about to reunite Jubilee with her old classmates at the Massachusetts Academy for Gifted Youngsters, as well as to welcome five new students and a teacher that were to have arrived that morning.

It had been about five months since they were involved in the rescue of Cyrus Parkman in Washington. With the aid of the newest member of the X-Men, Special Agent Kordel Nichols, they put down a major plot designed to eradicate mutant kind.

Then, though not as earth-shattering, meeting Alea, Stewart, Jason, and Nathan was one of the team's more interesting encounters by far. Ororo had chosen to wear the white hockey jersey she won that night leading Logan, the resident Canadian and Toronto Maple Leafs fan to note 'I know you can skate, an' I know you can fight. But with a little work on your one-timer shot and you can make first string left winger, 'Ro!'

Scott, though, had the most _lasting_ reminder of that night, as Scott's eye did not heal for three weeks after getting hit in the head during the waning moments of that game. Even the Juggernaut noticed the bruise when they had faced the Avatar of Destruction in Egypt last Halloween.

"We have all been working to this moment, Jubilation, you especially have shouldered a heavy burden," Ororo added. "But on the offhanded chance that you, for some reason feel uncomfortable, Sean and Emma will understand."

"What's to feel uncomfortable about? I get to hang with the old gang and of course there are five new kids I don't want to leave hangin'!"

* * *

"Stop crushing my hands, Yoink!"

_"C'est plus fort que moi! __Je ne peux plus bouger! J' ai des fourmis dans Les janbes!"_

"Alea, can you at least get your elbow out of my ribs!"

"I'm not Alea, Nathan. And that **_ain't_** my elbow."

Out of the foliage, four caped figures appeared next to Artie and Leech and joined the pair in watching their new classmates struggle with the trap they had sprung.

_Do we really have to wear these capes, Ange?_

"Símone, Jono," The gray-skinned boy replied.

_Why? _

"We just have to," The blonde girl hissed at them "Now you both hush up!"

"Welcome to the Massachusetts Academy," the blonde told the net's contents. "I'm Paige Guthrie. How do you like the campus so far?"

"Well, mademoiselle, I don't know about the rest of these guys, but I like it in here so much I decided to just _hand around_ with some really _close friends!"_

"Dynamite drop-in, MacKenzie!" His American cousin replied. "Someone best get us down from here! The circulation to my legs is shut off!"

_I told you the net wasn't large enough._

"I doubt comfort was the initial purpose of this prank," Monet St. Croix flew to the top of the tree house and untied the leaver which sprang the net and lowered it to the ground allowing the new students to exit their trap.

"Okay now _vatos_, we have a little tradition here at Xavier's. Now we all have to do some chores around here. Some of them ain't too bad, but some of them are straight fucked, like getting pots and pans on Macaroni and Cheese night."

"So we are going to have a little race." Paige added. "If all of you beat all of us back to the main doorway of the biosphere, you get first dibs on the chore assignments.

_Should we tell them that we already know all the shortcuts in here?_

_**HELL NO!!**_

"And what if we were to lose this little race?" Cyrus inquired.

"Well, homes, I wouldn't want Shithouse Patrol my first day here!"

"Not to worry children," The Hawaiian pulled up the sleeves of her jacket. _**"Ahi hele ke me ia'u!"**_

Nothing happened.

"No powers!" Leech shouted with obvious pride.

"I am forced to assume that no one informed you that Leech's genetic mutation also negates others mutant abilities."

_Translation, mates_ Jono told them. _You're on your own._

"Okay, Okay, Okay," Yoink replied. "We'll play your game, your way. But, tell me something mes amis, **LOOK, IT'S DOCTOR DOOM!!!"**

Embarrassingly, they all looked over their shoulders, not finding the Latvian dictator. When they wheeled back around they saw nothing but a sign made by Artie that read **'THEY WENT --!!!'**

**

* * *

_End of Chapter one_**

_**©David D. Amaya 2008**_


	2. Chapter 2

**The "Big Mutant On Campus" Series**  
**By David D. Amaya**

**Part One "First Day of School"  
_Chapter 2_**

_**Disclaimer:**_ _can be found at the beginning of the journey._

* * *

The Blackbird descended in front of the Academy, while four figures await its landing.

The first figure off the gangplank breathed in the New England air.

"Ah, never fear ya'll, Jubilation Lee has returned!"

She then bounded straight into the Sean's arms in a tight welcoming embrace.

" 'Tis great to have ye back, Lass!"

"Great to be back, Irish!"

"Welcome back, Jubilation."

"Thanks, Frosty," she said as she gave a hug to the Generation X Headmistress. Then she turned to the pair just behind them, one clad in an immaculate dress blues of the United States Navy. The other in a sharp Armani and dark sunglasses.

"Hi ya Admiral K!" she hugged the Naval officer, then pointed to his gold shoulder boards and noted the extra star. "Nice set of stars on thars!"

"Great to see you, firecracker! How have you been?"

"Great! How's your daughter, Alea and her friends?"

"They're inside the biosphere with the other students."

"_Oh, Crap!_ I missed the cargo net drop!"

She then looked at the Secret Service agent. Of the many teammates she had been in combat and risked her life with, this federal officer stands out. She doesn't quite know if it's the way he reminds her of so many of her friends, or because he stands out among them for his lack of mutant abilities, but not many normals have risked their lives for an X-Man. So despite not having a prehensile tail, or mental telepathy, she embraces the newest adult member of Generation X.

"Welcome back, Jubilee."

"Thanks, Secret Agent Dude, you gave us a really big scare that day. How did you get out of that jam?"

"Ask me again, I promise, one day I will tell you, but now I cannot," was the Secret Service Agent's reply. Then he reached into his pocket and retrieved a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. "I believe this belongs to you."

"Keep it," she said. "It was never really mine anyway," Then she noted the two other items that he had on him.

The Armani tie was kept in place with a tack encrusted with the X-Men's insignia, a red X in a band of gold. She recognized it right away as Scott's. Behind the Secret Service badge he had clipped to his belt, she noted a white card with a black A. Both items were given to him on his apparent deathbed to bring him much needed luck that day.

"Do you like them?" He asked. "I never believed in luck until the nurses told me that these were given to me before I went into cardiac arrest. They are my new shield."

"Cool, but don't forget to put on your bullet-proof vest by tonight."

"Why? Expecting trouble?"

"Yea," she replied as the rest of the X-Men disembarked greeting Sean and Emma. "Tonight _they're serving meatloaf!"_

"Oh, Admiral K, I gots to introduce you to the rest of the gang! Of course you remember Jean, Scott and Ororo -"

"Aloha `oukou! I hope your eye cleared up quickly, Scott."

"…and these scoundrels are Remy and Logan."

"Aloha `olua, A pleasure to meet the two you," he greeted them as he shook both their hands.

"Any friend of Jubilee, is a friend to us, mon Admerial," Remy replied.

"Just a moment," Kordel remarked. "If Logan came in on the Blackbird, whose motorcycle is that?" He pointed to the Harley-Davidson parked next to the Escalade.

"That ain't mine, G-Man," Logan answered. "That's a '86 FLH Shovelhead. I roll in a '73 Sportster Ironhead."

"Yea, Secret Agent, dude, besides Wolvie wouldn't ride a Hog with a sidecar to win a bet!"

"That's Jason's bike," Admiral Kaulalona replied. "He must have arrived while we were inside."

"Well, come on guys! I want to see who gets KP duty tonight!"

She then grabbed Logan by the wrist and half dragged him towards the biosphere with the rest of the group in tow.

* * *

"Come on guys!" Cyrus told them as the came to a halt. "It can't be too far. We headed straight so we have to at least hit a wall!"

"Sale putréfier goons!" Stewart exclaimed. "They had Leech take us on the winding path so we wouldn't remember how to get out!"

"Stop sniveling, damn it!" Nathan grunted as he fought to catch his breath. "Whistler has denser forests then this and we made it through there in good time!"

"Yea, but remember how long you had that poison oak rash, Nakanaela?"

Out of the blue, 'Walk,' By Pantera started playing, Alea's phone was ringing.

"Shut that thing off! It'll give away our position!"

"**Who the hell is this!**"

_"Is that any way to talk to the love of your life?"_

"_**JAY!?**_ Where are you?"

_"Inside this indoor forest. You guys have to check out the view!"_

**"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!** Are you in front the main entrance?"

"'In front the main entrance?'_ Yea, why do you -?"_

"**LOOK**, we don't have the time to explain, but unless you want to spend tonight scrubbing toilets, _whistle_."

_"Whistle? Why do -"_

_**"DO IT!"**_

* * *

_Did you hear something?_

"Sounds like one of my 'all clear' signals, homes. Sounded like it came from the opening."

"Someone signaled them," Monet said. "They must be lost."

"Shh!" admonished Husk. "Do you here that? It sounds like it was coming from-"

Her words where cut off by the cargo net trap they stepped in. Only Angelo was not ensnared.

"_Dang it, Jono!_ I thought you said you put this thing over there!?"

_Sorry, girl, mustta slipped my mind._

"Hey, the other vatos are almost at the entrance. Want me to cut you down?" He asked pulling his butterfly knife out of the small of his back.

"No, go and slow them down while we get out of here. Ouch! Stop poking me in the butt, Jono!"

* * *

"Got it, Iakona. We're about 100 yards away from- "

Alea's phone, as well as Nuff, Cyrus, and Alea herself fell into a large bear pit Penance had dug that morning.

Yoink, who scaled a tree to get a better view, was spared the fall.

"Give me your hands! Je vous tirerai!"

"No, Yoink! You run to Jay and hold off the others until we get out."

"Yea, but-"

"**NO BUTS!** If they went to all this trouble to get out of dusting, they must leave a **HELL** of a big mess. _MOVE IT!_"

* * *

Entering a clearing, only 50 yards from his friend, Stewart paused to catch his breath, sweat dripping on his old Québec Raffles jersey. Before he could stand back up, he was ensnared by ten strands of … Well, he doesn't know what they are made of. The gray-skinned Chicano at the end of them might tell him. The Canadian would ask, but he had wrapped several strands around his mouth, gagging him so he can't call for his friends.

_"Sneaky-assed Gabron!"_ Angelo chided his prisoner with a large grin wishing he'd pulled that stunt. "I'm going to enjoy seeing you get knee deep in shit!"

The young Canadian could only look at him with disdain from getting trapped, but suddenly his eyes flared at him in alarm, and he tried to scream a warning. Then a hand descended on Angelo's shoulder from behind and jerked him back, while it's twin struck him with the clinched fingers of a cold, cruel hand, on which was written on the knuckles, "**FATE.**"

* * *

"What was that sound?" Ororo asked raising her eyebrows at the faint high pitched noise.

"That's Jason sounding off _'Call to Battle Stations,'_" The Admiral answered having taught it to him. "What are they doing in there?"

"If I remember," Jubilee answered. "They lured the others to the treehouse and raced them back to the front. Looks like the home team is losing."

* * *

**"LOOK,"** said the other end of the line. _"We don't have the time to explain, but unless you want to spend tonight scrubbing toilets, **whistle**."_

After riding his Harley for well over two hours Jason Delano wanted nothing more than a bowl of soup and the Hawaiian goddess who owns his heart, to help thaw him out.

_I must've dialed the __**wrong number,**_ he thought. "_Whistle_? Why do -"

_**"DO IT!"**_

_I defiantly dialed the wrong number,_ he blared his loudest signal whistle the Admiral taught him, the 'Call to Battle Stations'.

"Got it, Iakona. We're about 100 yards away from…"

_**"ALEA! ALEA! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!"**_ He screamed into the phone. _Fuck, something's wrong,_ He thought right before rushing headfirst into the biosphere in the direction he heard leaves rustling.

He didn't make it fifty yards when he came across a clearing, then he heard more leaves rustling. Stalking slowing in the lush growth, he crept until he came upon the sight of some gray-skinned freak that had Yoink hog tied.

"_Sneaky-assed Gabron!_" he grunted to his captive. "I'm going to enjoy seeing you get knee deep in shit!"

_**SON OF A BITCH!**_ His mind screamed as he leaps to them.

Grabbing him by the shoulder he turned him round and smashed his right fist into his jaw and felt teeth crack.

Angelo's head erupted in a blinding white pain, then colors exploded in his brain. Not prepared to defend his life, the sucker-punch from behind him stunned him, releasing his grip on his new classmate. The unknown attacker was on him, his fists struck almost invisibly, like the mouths of cobras, he pounded him to the ground.

"**WHO'S KNEE DEEP IN SHIT NOW, MOTHER FUCKER!**" he bellowed each blow he sent to the gray-skinned asshole increased in force as well as frequency. The victim of his rage might never know that Jason Delano's mutant ability is not merely dependent upon cruelty and horrific violence, but born of it.

Then in a flash, he hears a sound he had never came across in his life.

**_SKINT_ **

Then a long shiny blade crossed his eyes and he felt one similar part the hair in the back of his head.

"There's three of these claws, bub! Ya wanna see the third, **_up close!?_**"

"_**NO, WOLVIE, DON'T**_**_!_**" Someone shouts. _**"HE'S ONE OF –"**_

She doesn't finish her scream. Jason's combat-augmented strength, as well as the sudden surprise that broke his attacker's concentration, allowed him to grab his arm and shoulder throw the muscular man, crashing him into a nearby tree. Rolling out of the way of his victim, he reached into his motorcycle boot and extracted the switchblade he always carried in there.

_"I'm strapped, too, asshole!"_ he announced with the ominous trademark click of the weapon. "Come on, I'll make you _famous_!"

_**"Secret Service!"**_ Someone shouts from behind him, followed by the unmistakable sound of a simi-auto getting drawn. _**"Drop the weapon!"**_

Glancing over his shoulder he sees the Sig Sower, he knows only a Fed would carry a 9mm.

"Better do what he says!" Jubilee tells him. "That ain't Megatron's stunt double!"

_**"Drop the weapon! Place your hands on top of your head, and drop to your knees!"**_

Flicking the switchblade, impaling it in the soft grass, he does as he's ordered, experience telling him the best time to strike at the cop will be when he attempts to handcuff him.

"Wait, Agent Nichols," a very familiar voice called out. _"That's Jason!"_

"Admiral?" Jason looked around puzzled. "What in the hell's going on!?"

"This subject pulled a switchblade on Logan," Agent Nichols replied, his weapon still trained on the young man.

"This asshole," He replied head-pointing towards Logan. "pulled two shanks on me!"

"That's cuz this dickhead," Logan replied still laid out on the base of a tree. "was poundin' on Espinosa!"

"Because that mother fucker," now pointing towards the unmoving gray form at his side. "had MacKenzie tied up!"

"Ça baigne, Jay!" he replied finally extracting himself from Angelo's strands. "He was just fooling around!"

_**"FOOLING AROUND!?"**_ He cried, now confused and crazily furious. _**"G**__**OD DAMN IT, YOINK! WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON!?"**_

Upon hearing the roar of their missing friend, Alea and Nuff sprinted the rest of the way to the clearing, leaving Cyrus to catch up to them. What they found when they arrived on the scene read like Alice in Wonderland, _on crack_.

Jason is on his knees with his hands on his head, Agent Nichols training his sidearm at him. Angelo was on his back, withering in obvious pain. Stewart was wiggling out of some gray-colored, something, that was coming from Angelo's hands, and Wolverine was getting up off the ground with the help of Jubilee.

Right behind them, Cyrus and the rest of the Generation X students finally arrived.

"_Angelo_!" Paige cried once she looked upon the sight and was by her teammate's side in an instant joined by Jono and Monet, while Sean, Emma and the rest of the X-Men entered the clearing and spied the scene. Sean used to sights similar to this with his time with Gen X only sighed, while the White Queen said only two words.

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Speak slowly, and use small words," Delano replied from his knees. "You're going to need your energy when I get up!"

* * *

**"CHORE LIST!?"**

The kid's summery of the past hour's events still sounded stupid to the Admiral, even for a hazing, no matter who explained it to him.

While discreet mind scans done by both Jean and Emma told them that he genuinely believed that his friend was in grave danger, they also knew he intended to kill Angelo, if necessary to defend Stewart. Luckily Angelo's training allowed his to wrap his face in extra layers of skin to protect him from the force of Delano's fists, and was pronounced to be, other than a pending massive headache, recovering fine.

Despite this, the Naval veteran knew if Wolverine had not intervened, there was no telling how far Jason could have gone.

"You're telling me that Iakona almost wasted that laho kole, because you were afraid to swab the dinning room floor?" his eyes swept his audience with a piercing glare he doesn't even use on academy pleabes.

"We didn't know Jay was going to go all batshit on us, Admiral," Nuff replied. "It was supposed to be just a harmless game."

**"A GAME!?"** Jay roared. **"A FUCKIN' HARMLESS GAME!?"**

"Kî 'oia, Iakona," Alea added. "A harmless game!" she turned to her father. "Look at it from this point of view, Daddy. We walk into a place we have never seen before and the first thing we see is some 'a'ahuã hog-tying our po ki 'i wrapped up in - did you say that stuff came from his skin? _EWWWE_!

"Well, Nakana would have that silver dollar in his hands faster than you can say Don Ho! And you know I would have roasted his chestnuts like it was Christmas Eve. It could have happened to any one of us, makuakane."

"But it just _happened_ to be Iakona it happened to, kaikamahine!"

"It'll be all right, Daddy! I felt Ms. Summers and Ms. Frost scanning Jay. They know what really happened. Once we get Jay to cool off, we can just chalk this up to a misunderstanding and call it a day."

* * *

_**"I want him removed from campus, this instant!"**_ Emma Frost decreed. _"I will not allow any student of mine to assault another without provocation!"_

"Emma, please be reasonable," Professor Charles Xavier requested via the Comm link to the Xavier Mansion in New York. "You peered into the young man's mind. You know he truly believed his friend was in genuine peril. The fact that his mutant gifts allow him an unheralded advantage in such a situation is no reason to expel any student. After all, learning to control their mutant gifts is the very reason for the existence of this school."

"But, Charles that was not the only thing I found in his mind that disturbs me."

"Damn you, Emma! You know you shouldn'a be invading someone's mind, especially a student!"

"We are well aware of his situation," Scott replied. "We know about the time he spent incarcerated in California. The appellate court overturned his murder convection when the truth that he was framed by the police was brought to light.

"We also know of the events that happened to him when he was serving that sentence before his release. As disturbing as those reports were, we still made the decision to extend the offer for their enrollment here."

"Fact 'o 'da matter is that kid to damn good in a scrap to just let loose," Gambit observed. "If we don't keep a mutant with that kinda talent on our side, we might have to rumble against him one day down 'da road."

"Remy does bring a valid point of view, Emma," Ororo pointed out.

"I guess there's a first time for everything, Gumbo."

"In all seriousness, Logan," Jean began. "When we first met them at that hockey game, he was quick to defend them against US. He was apprehensive to our offer at first, but they all did agree to come here for instruction."

* * *

"Just remember, the **ONLY** way you guys got me here was because you cheated! Yoink told me Alea was sending you all my moves on during our chess duel after the game, Admiral!"

"That is a **LIE**, Iakona! I defeated you fair and square on my own!" _Kaikamahine,_ he sent to his daughter_ please remind Kewalaka the difference between a __well-intended tactical advantage and cheating!_ She simply slapped the Canadian in the back of his head in response. "Besides, Jason, like I told you months ago, coming to this kula hãnai will be the best decision you all will make. You will each benefit from expert instruction with using your kãhuli hiki."

"He has an incredibly violent temper."

"So, he kinda reminds me of me."

"But unlike you, Logan, he has already been expelled from two different schools in New England," Emma continued. "Thank goodness he did not use his mutant power in those cases."

"But ain't you all forgetting about the most important point of all," said a figure listening from the doorway.

"_Jubilation_! This is a private matter!"

"Hey, Frosty, Angelo is one of my best buds, and he got stomped on! I should be pissed off at Jay, too! But I didn't blast him with sparks because he did what any of you would, **AND HAVE**, done in the same situation."

From his desk in New York, Professor Xavier had to admit that despite her flippant attitude, practical joking and reports of inattentiveness in class Emma used to send, Jubilation often provides a point of view that strikes to the heart of the matter, and from looking at the monitor at his X-Men in Snow Valley, they agreed.

"But Jubilee," Agent Nichols interjected. "Beating someone senseless like that-"

"Is any different from, say, tryin' ta whack some unarmed scumbag, Secret Agent Dude?

"That's right! I heard what went down at the racetrack from your tag-team partner, Charlie. '_You would have gone too far if you weren't stopped by an X-Man.'_" She waves her hands like a conductor to emphasize her words. "Sound familiar, guys?" She looked around the room. "Face it, he did that for one of his hommies. He'd do it in a heartbeat for any one of us once he believes he's one of **US**."

* * *

Wakening in the Med Chamber, Angelo Espinosa had one of the worst splitting headaches known to man or beast.

"Angelo, thank goodness you are okay!" Paige exclaimed WAY too loudly.

_"Eye chingón!"_ he replied. "I feel like shit! What the hell happened?

_You were on the receiving end of a one-sided scrap, mate._

"_Shh! You're inner voice is too loud, bro. _All I remember seeing is the tats on the vato's fist."

"His name is Jason, he with us new kids," said a small boy he did not recognize. "He saw you tying up his best friend, you must've said something that set him off."

_What's going to happen to him, Paige luv?_

"Well, the Admiral's scolding him," The boy answered again. "and I know he feels crummy about what happened."

"Do you know if they are going to boot him out, M?"

"I hope not." The boy replied once more. "Ms. Frost is trying to get Professor Xavier to expel him, but Jubes went to talk them out of it."

"Can I ask you a question?" Paige asked the boy, who simply nodded. _"Who are you?"_

"Sean didn't tell you guys? I'm Cyrus Parkman," he said extending his hand. "But you can call me 'Watt."

_So?_

"Do you not recognize him from all the television you watch?" Monet said matter-of-factly. "He is the son of President Parkman."

Angelo, Paige and Jono looked at him funny.

"There it is again!" Cyrus moaned. "'The **LOOK**!' Everywhere I go, I get _**'the Look!'**_"

_You mean as in the President of the U.S?_

"Yep."

"And that vato with the cueté?"

"Special Agent Kordel Nichols, US Secret Service. But I call him Lariat."

"And you?"

"Yep, I'm a mutant, too."

"Your powers?"

"Think Gambit, but without the accent."

"And the events of your kidnapping?"

"Officially, the Secret Service and SHIELD rescued little ol' me from a former Agent that went 5150, but between you and me, let's just say that Lariat had a little help from some _mutual friends_."

"_Hijolé!_ You mean El Presidente knows-"

"_**Hell no!**_ Even the Director of the Secret Service, who's a mutant as well by the way, won't tell President Dad this school is owned by the X-Men, he'd have kittens!"

"And Agent Nichols?"

"Lariat scans as flat as a two-week old glass of coke, but don't think he's not up to it. He's tougher than Wolverine."

"_**Bulchitiando chavalito**_!"

"Nope, it's true! You know that Shi'ar program he likes, the bar fight?"

"Símon."

"He beat Logan's best time!"

_No way!_

"Oh, yes way!"

_All twenty?_

"All _**THIRTY**_!"

* * *

A little more than a half-hour later, everyone entered the Recreation Room. The X-Men were seated to the left, Generation X on the right, Jubilee sat in the middle of both groups. Cyrus Parkman was in an armchair, with Agent Nichols by his side. Alea, her father, Stewart, and his cousin Nathan sat in a couch just behind everyone. Jason was leaning on the arm of the couch with the backpack he road in with from Connecticut at his feet.

"We discussed what happened this afternoon, in length," Sean told everyone. "We looked at the fact that young Mr. Delano did not know what was happening in the biosphere was just a harmless welcoming. And given that he did give an apology to Angelo for what he did-"

"WHOA, hold on a minute," Jason burst out. "I said I was sorry for what _happened_, not what I **DID**. If it happened again I'd do _exactly_ the same thing, again!"

He turned to Angelo. "Look, I know now you weren't gonna hurt him, but like I said, you can't undo a beat-down, if I knew what you were doing to Yoink, I'd just help him tie you to a tree until the good guys crossed the finish line."

_"Be that as it may!"_ Emma continued. "While we were leaning towards expelling Mr. Delano-"

Jason stood up, grabbed his pack and turned for the door.

"We decided against it in this instance."

Alea reached out, grabbed his pack and pulled him back to the couch.

"Good call," Nathan replied. "If he had made it to the door, we'd walk out with him."

"You had better have believed that!" Stewart added. _"__Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire, nous vivons et mourons aussi un__!"_

"You tell 'em guys," Alea chimed in.

"We will _**NOT**_ tolerate any such actions as what happened in the biosphere this morning is that clear!"

"Yes."

"Oui."

" 'Ae."

"Mr. Delano?"

_Jason, just _say_ the word, 'YES.' Now is the time to be polite, __**not**__ honest. Do it for me? Hiki, mea aloha?_

"Whatever you say," was his reply.

"Good," Sean interjected clearly cutting the tension that still hung in the air. "Now that our first full afternoon is out of the way, why don't we allow our new friends to unpack their things."

* * *

**_End of Chapter two_**

_**©David D. Amaya 2008**_


	3. Chapter 3

**The "Big Mutant On Campus" Series**  
**By David D. Amaya**

**Part One "First Day of School"  
_Chapter 3  
_**

_**Disclaimer:**_ _can be found at the beginning of the journey._

* * *

While not as eventful as the run-in in the biosphere just a few hours past, everyone unpacked their things in their respective dorm rooms. Cyrus finished unpacking his clothes while Special Agent Nichols was putting away his personal items in his new office. Nathan, Jay, Stewart and Admiral Kaulalona carried the larger of Alea's things to her room before they returned to the boy's side to offload their own stuff, while Paige helped Jubilee return her things to her side of their room.

"Ah! It's good to be back!" Jubilee told Paige they unpacked her things. "Just think, Hayseed, I'm not back an hour yet pain, disorder, chaos, and confusion reign! _My work is already done here!_

"So how goes the gang since I've been staying with the varsity team?"

"Well for one thing, it's been too quiet with out you Jubes."

Suddenly Paige throws her arms around her roommate and hugged.

_"Oh, Jubes! I missed you something awful!"_

"Thanks, Paige," she said with tears welling up in both their eyes.

"Just promise that you'd never get hurt like that again."

Jubilee slowly pulled herself away and met Paige eye to eye.

"You know the risks we take. Heck, I haven't told you the _'real version'_ of 'Watt's rescue! But I'll only tell you if you promise not to cry. Remember we all came back, sorta in one piece."

Husk took a moment to get a good look at the wisecracking, devil-can-kiss-my-butt, firecracker before her. The last time she saw her, she and Everett were beaten so bad, Jubilee required nero-surgery then went to live with Jean and Scott back in New York.

"Hey, don't worry! Remember, Hayseed, like I told Special Agent Dude, X-Men don't abandon their friends. Especially the great ones like you guys."

They hugged again, and then Jubilee changed the subject, just like she always used to do.

"Why don't we go and help the Island Gal unload her stuff?"

* * *

As they crossed the hall, they came across the room given to Alea Kaulalona. The door was open and inside they found Alea and her father, hanging some flags in her room.

Just over the four-post bed were two flags. One was the State Flag of Hawaii. The other Paige remembered from a documentary on the Aloha State, was the banner of the Nation of Hawaii. Over the desk the Admiral was hanging the flag of the Department of the Navy, accompanying several battle insignias and plagues. In a corner, Alea was affixing some sort of pole. Paige knocked at the open door.

"Aloha, young ladies!" The Admiral welcomed them in. "Koma kamali'i!"

"Hi ya, Admiral K," Jubilee replied. "We were wondering if you guys needed help settling in."

"Well, we're almost done here. You can help us hang some pictures."

Paige and Jubilee both sat on the bed admiring how the two Hawaiians have decorated her room.

"So, Admiral Kaulalona," Paige pointed to the space over the desk. "Are those your ships?"

"No, Peike, _they belong to the taxpayers,_" The Admiral said with a grin. "But I've had the honor to have served onboard eight and the privilege of commanding three.

"These are from the battleships Intrepid, Nashville, and the Missouri. These are of the destroyers, The Sullivans, the Churchill and the Nicholson, and the aircraft carriers, The Independence, the Nemiz and the Big John."

"The Big John?"

"The USS John F. Kennedy, It was my last command at sea."

"Where did you first serve, Admiral K?"

"Well, Jubilation, when I was growing up at Pearl, I was fascinated with all the different places the sailors went. Singapore, the Med, South America, so like any young sailor, I joined the Navy to see the world. However, after eight weeks of boot camp at Great Lakes, my first assignment was at the US Naval Station in Norman, Oklahoma."

"There's no coastline bordering Oklahoma."

"_Tell that to my recruiter, Peike!_ I was there for eighteen months before I landed a Gunner Mate post on the Nashville. After five years afloat, I was accepted to Annapolis and graduated The Yard an Ensign. I've been proudly serving my country for over twenty years."

"What are these? Jubilee asked. "Are they your medals, Admiral K?"

"Yes, Jubes," Alea replied as she stepped down to point them out to her new friends. "These are all of Daddy's commendations. But this is the one I like the best," she pointed to a plaque with a picture of her father saluting the Chief of Naval Operations. "This is the Vice Admiral Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership when he was commanding the Sullivans." The pride she had for her father was all too obvious "Well I'm all done, daddy,"

Reaching into a box behind Paige and Jubilee, Thom produced a steel rod and handed it to his daughter, who placed it in the pole she had attached to the wall and unfurled a small American flag.

Alea stepped off the stool to join her father; the naval officer snapped a rigid salute as his daughter placed her right hand over her heart. Looking over her shoulder at her classmates, she cleared her throat.

"Oh yea," Jubilee realized as she and Paige stood up from the bed and followed Alea in placing their hands over their hearts.

"_Tute_," the Admiral said softly then dropped him arm.

"That means you can put your hands down girls," Alea told them.

"Well now that the Colors are up" The Admiral remarked. "It is time for the most important thing of all."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the boys' side, Jason, Nathan and Stewart were all unpacking their things as well. Having more things than their Hawaiian counterpart, they unpacked one room at a time starting with Jason's, then Nathan's, and ending with the Canadian's room, when Jono, Angelo and Cyrus entered the room. They watched as MacKenzie hung his autographed Women's gold medal hockey team jersey, next to the Canadian flag. McPherson was hammering some nails - with his bare fist, - while Jason left the room to fetch a box. Angelo knocked on the door.

"Knock, knock, amigos! We were thinking maybe you vatos needed a hand, but I guess you're almost done."

_Yea, do you mates need any help?_

"Looks like we only have a few things left, photographs and such," Yoink replied as Jason re-entered the room with a large box.

"Must've left this in your room, Nuff," he said as he heaved it on the bed, then he noted he was using his bare hands to pound nails. "What the hell are you doing?"

"The handle broke," he nodded to the broken hammer on the desk. "So I sponged off the head to finish, I'll take it back to Sears in the morning." He finished his task then grabbed four items out of the box, three pictures and a plaque. The first picture he placed was of Stewart and Alea figure skating, the other was of Nathan and his cousin, years younger, shaking hands with Canadian Prime Minister McLean in Ottawa, which he placed next to the plaque. The last was a large group photo of the five of them.

"How did you guys hook up?" Cyrus asked.

"That yarn is a long story, mon frère cadet."

_We have the time, mates_

"Where should we start?"

"The beginning sounds cool, hombre."

* * *

Pulling a velvet-covered object from the box, he handed it to Alea, who pressed it to her lips and kissed it before removing the velvet.

The object was a large black and white photo of a beautiful hula dancer. Alea lovingly placed the frame on the wall opposite the bed then hugged her dad tightly.

"Is that your mom, Alea?" Paige asked.

"Yes," the Admiral replied. "Alea is a splitting image of her.

"She had the same kãhuli makana as her kaikamahine," he explained to them. "She was a park guide at Volcano National Park, when a sudden eruption separated a group of sight-seers. She used her gifts to try to slow a sudden swift-moving lava flow to rescue the group. She had saved all of them, but it had engulfed her," The Hawaiian suppressed a tear. "Alea was only ten and I was at sea when she died. I was given a hardship transfer off the Big John and received shore assignments until I was given command of Pearl."

"You guys miss her a lot don't you?"

"Every moment of every day, Jubes."

They both knew how hard it feels to lose a loved one, so Paige changed the subject by pulling out another picture. A photo of the Admiral walking on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nemiz along side Cyrus' father.

"When did you meet the President, Admiral?"

"When I was given command of Pearl, Peike," he answered. "The President was inspecting the Pacific Fleet. This was taken onboard the Nemiz. Then he gave a wonderful speech on the Enterprise."

"Yea, but this is my favorite picture of dad," Alea responded and pulled a large picture. It showed the three-star Admiral, clad in his immaculate white uniform, leaning on a large couch which was seated Jason, Alea, Stewart, and Nathan, all four were dressed in black tuxedos with Navy Blue bowties and cummerbunds. The photo was just like the one in the Canadian's room, which also adorns Jason's and Nathan's Rooms as well as The Admiral's Naval Station office on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.

"This was taken by All Aboard magazine in Washington. Daddy just got promoted a few months ago to Vice Admiral. Daddy was the first and still only one to successfully make the switch on the Herndon Climb and make Flag Rank. I got to pin his new stars on! I've never been so proud!"

"How did you come to know Jay, Stewart and Nathan?"

"I remember bumping into Nakana, Kewalaka and Iakona like it was yesterday.

"And daddy can tell you just how pupule yesterday was!"

* * *

"Well, I first meet Nakana and Kewalaka when Dad was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska of all places! Of all the things to do in the cold, the only other thing I liked to do was figure skating. Because there wasn't one on the base, I was going to the only rink in town. That's where I saw a Canadian kid who was attempting a triple Lutz."

"He used to mess around doing those triple axels and shit. Then one day Alea waltzes in during an open skate and most of the guys there were in puck gear. Now I don't do that fancy crap and, well some of the skaters were talking shit. You know one more minute and I would have cashed them out, if you know what I mean, they were saying stuff like _'You skate like that little girlie over there!'_ "

"But that's what pissed me off! He doesn't skate like a girl. He still isn't half that good at all!"

_"Alea!"_

"Okay, Okay, Daddy! So I skate up to that loudmouth 'a'ahuã and told him point blank…"

"_'If you're so hot shit, you won't be afraid to face off against a harmless little girlie.'_ So suceux de balus goes _'you and what Barbie Army!'_ So she points to me and Nuff and said…"

"_Those two are more then good enough against YOU!_ So we were playing Ringers, that's when you have to hit all three goal posts in succession. Lucky for me Heckle and Jeckle are both wingers, so we faced off three-on-three."

"It was more like Custer's Last Stand! I check hard and Alea and Yoink are so agile they slip every check like a wet noodle."

"So I take the first shot, starboard post, **CLANG!** So, then stupid says _'Nice shot, for a girl'_ and I go…"

"_'Nice shot for Marcel Richard!'_ Her slap shot easily tops well over 175-kph. Then she acts cocky. Elle Fait tout d'ochar et d 'amuto! Now she takes the left post…"

"…Only this time I shoot between my legs with my back to the net. **CLANG!** _'Hard to port!'_ I shouted, and his friends along the boards are howling!"

"But stupid is also getting pissed off and now starts to poke check her with his stick, while me and Yoink are stick holding the others off so she can go one-on-one. She breaks a spin fake and has him deked out of his jockstrap, but he is able to hook his stick in her skating skirt and rips it off her!"

"Now I'm doing a spin move, and while he gets the drop on me," She blushes while she is telling this part in front of her father. "I still get the feed from McPherson and one-time it dead center of the high post. I turn to face him and the lô lô holds up my skirt, so all I have on is a skimpy leotard and my blades…"

"…So he starts to say, _'Losing was worth it now that I get to see a piece of that tanned ass, you Coppertone Barbie!'_ So she skates up to him to take her skirt from him but he holds his stick up high so she has to reach for it, or so he thought because…"

"…I take my stick and slap shot him square in the coconuts! Now he's squirming along the Blue Line and I take my skirt…"

"Then she puts it on le Christ de chien sal!"

_No way, you're making that last part up, MacKenzie!_

"No Jubes, I heave him to his knees, and fastened it around his panty-waist!"

"Mira-mira, your chavala is loco!"

"Oh, that's not the end of it."

"What did you do, Island Gal!?"

"Well, Jubes I just tell the loe pa'a he kakake…"

"…_'Well, honey, if you're going to play like a sissy, you'd better wear a sissies dress!'_ And with that she turns on him like a victorieux matador and with all the grace I've ever seen on her, skates to me and Nuff…

"…and I tell them, _'I might be a girl, but I fight like a guy!'_"

"Hijolé! That had to sting!"

"Are you kidding, every time they tell that story it hurts me!"

"You aren't the only one, Jay! So right after that we became the best of friends and started to skate in companions, and then we started to live with the Admiral, then he gets transferred to Connecticut."

"That's when we cross paths…"

"…with the biggest pain in the ass in the world!"

"Makuakane! Was that really necessary!?"

"What, are you new!? Hi, my name is Nathan, and you are?"

"…Just wondering, was love at first sight, Alea?"

"More like 'Death after the second glance,' I'd call it."

"Hey, it wasn't all that bad, Nuff!"

"Tsa, Peike, _it was a lot worse than that!_"

* * *

"Daddy was assigned to a the Sub base in New London shortly before he was given Pearl," Alea tells Paige and Jubilee. "Our first day of school there was uneventful, that was until this 'a'ahuã shoulder bumps Yoink to the ground."

"I didn't knock you on your ass, MacKenzie! You slipped and hit my arm at the same time!"

"Tell it to someone who can't tell a piece of la marde, from Play-Doh, Jason! Now, Alea and Nuff are in another class so they aren't with me, but they round the corner in time for him to say…"

"…_'You'd better say you're sorry, mother fucker, or I'll make you famous!'_ So we race over to them…"

"…and this dark-skinned, Polynesian _**Goddess**_ jumps in my face. Now I'm thinking, 'I've died and gone straight to hell!' "

"Don't you mean gone straight to heaven?"

"Cyrus, dreams like that only come true with a contract signed by Satan _**HIS DAMN SELF!**_ Now getting back to the story…"

"…I grab him by the collar of his Ice Dogs jersey and tug it pulling him eye-to-eye…"

"…And she goes, _'You make a move on my li'ili'i Hau Kaikunane, __**I'LL ROAST YOUR STUPID NARROW ASS!**__'_ "

"Yea, Nuff, Alea's SO beautiful, even pissed off to hell, she makes me want to write bad checks!"

"Arête tes saldes, Jay! So then Nuff shoves him against a locker and says to Alea…"

"…'_Take a number, Hula Girl!'_ then turns to Iakona and says _'That's my cousin you're messing with, dumbshit! Apologize or I'll shatter your skull into a million pieces!' "_

"Of course, as you can tell they both have discovered their mutant powers by now, but SO DID I! So I go…"

"…_'Oh? Two against one?'_ he starts, _'Well I'm game! Three o'clock on the soccer field. I've done two at a time before, but you wouldn't enjoy it as much as those cheerleaders Friday night!'_ "

"Two hinas?"

"Well, Angelo, he did have two cheerleaders during the same party. One pimp slapped him, and the other threw a beer in his face!"

**"FUCK YOU, MCPHERSON!"**

"Not if you were cute, or paid well, Delano!"

"So what happened at three, Alea?"

"Well, Jono, Alea and Nuff waited until school let out and the three of us walked to mid-field out behind the school. A few students were waiting for the bad a bam, but Jay was also there, acting bigger than life…"

"…So he shouts to us, _'Hey, if I win, I get to take Miss. Hawaiian Tropic out on a hot date on a cold night!'_ OH! I HATE THAT NAME. DAMN IT! Now I'm pissed at Jay, all over again!"

"That's when Alea replies, _'__**WHEN I WIN**__, I'll put a dog collar on you and parade you around like the little whipped __**puppy YOU ARE!**__'_ "

"I do so enjoy it when my Island Princess talks dirty to me! But business before pleasure as the saying goes, so then we start throwing hurt bombs."

"Nakana and Kewalaka are both experienced _savage kickboxers_."

"Jay learned Muy Thai from _the Sarge._"

"_And Alea fights dirtier than I do!_ I begin round one with by introducing the cold and cruel Hand of Fate to the Big Fella's jaw in your standard vulgar display of power. Now of course they didn't know I get stronger in a streetfight…."

"…Lucky him, cause I was getting more shots to the gut than anyone I know, Peike, and he didn't fall…"

"…And with all the left jabs I was connecting with I started a nosebleed on him, you see I didn't absorb anything that afternoon, Cyrus…."

"…Because I told Nuff I wanted to feel his teeth smash with my toes, Jubes. Heck, I was about to hit him with a little size six Chin Music, but the 'ino kauiã does the unthinkable!"

"…Jay punts Nuff square in the ma' & pa' button, he doubles over, then he power bombs him…"

"…right on top of **ME!**"

**"NO WAY, ALEA!"**

"Oui, Cyrus. They both land on the ground in a heap, I go over to see if they are okay, then this piece of la marde trips me, _**AGAIN**_, and I land on the both of them. And do you know what this asshole says!?"

"Wait! It's my line, _**I'LL SAY IT!**_ I turn to the small crowd and say…"

"_'Lo good people!'_ he shouts pointing to us. _'A Fowl Plate Special! All white-meat Turkey, Chicken shit salad and dark-meat Pheasant pâté!'_ _Ugh! THAT DID IT! I'M GOING SLUG HIM __**RIGHT NOW! Ahi hele ke me ia'u!**__"_

A soft red glow enveloped her body, then, in a trail of super-heated air, flew out of the room.

"Admiral, where is your daughter going?"

"To slug her boyfriend, Peike," He said as he rose to follow his daughter towards the boy's dorm.

"Oh hell, I missed the undercard bout," Jubilee said as she jumped for the doorway. "I'm not about to skip this main event!" then she bolted for the boy's side, followed quickly by Paige.

* * *

"Oui, Cyrus," Stewart acknowledged. "They both land on the ground in a heap, I go over to see if they are okay, then this piece of la marde, trips me, **AGAIN**, and I land on the both of them. And do you know what this asshole says?"

"Wait!" Jay interrupts. "It's my line, **I'LL SAY IT!** I turn to the small crowd and say _'Lo good people! A Fowl Plate Special! All white-meat Turkey, Chicken shit salad and dark-meat Pheasant pâté!'_ Man, you guys should have seen it! Alea in flat on her back, the Big Fella's pinning her sprawling in agony and frostbite-in-the-ass here plopped on top, I wish I had a camera!"

With the end of the story he joins most of the room in howling laughter so no one noticed the room temperature was rising quickly. Then Alea flew into the room to find Jay doubled over in laughter.

_**"IAKONA!"**_

He turns to face the love of his life just in time to take her left hook square in the right side of his jaw. He is knocked to the floor just as the Admiral, Jubilee, and Paige reached the doorway.

"Let me guess," Jubilee remarks. "They were telling the same story we just heard, right?"

"I guess," Stewart replied. "She doesn't slug him for many other reasons." This led to another round of laughter.

Sean Cassidy chose that moment to enter the Canadian's room to find that almost everyone was inside sharing what he thought was a light-hearted moment together.

"I see ye getting to know each other, that's grand! Now if ye will all join me, we will be having dinner shortly."

"Nothing for Jay, Mr. Cassidy. He just choked on a knuckle sandwich!"

The room erupted in laughter once again, leaving the Irishman to raise an eyebrow at the inside joke.

* * *

"Yes sir, Mr. Director. He is all unpacked and we were all about to sit down with the staff at the Institute in New York for dinner…. No, sir, he appears to be getting along with his classmates well…. Yes, sir, the first package will arrive at 1000-hours…. Yes, sir, thank you, sir."

Agent Nichols shuts off his cell phone and continues to unpack the last of his personal things in the office the Academy had provided for him when a knock came from his open door.

"Agent Nichols, Ms. Frost sent me to inform you that dinner will be served shortly. She wishes for you to join us in the dinning hall."

"Thank you Miss. St. Croix. I will be down in a few short moments, I only have a few things left to finish up."

"Would you like some assistance, Agent Nichols?"

"Why, thank you. Just stand over there next to the desk, if you please, I have only a few things to hang on the wall. I need someone to tell me if I am hanging them straight."

Monet stood opposite the only bare wall which Agent Nichols hung several different items to it. Closest to the ceiling he placed a plaque bearing the seal of the Department of Homeland Security and a replica of his Secret Service badge.

Under that he placed a framed ice hockey jersey with 'Nichols 5' lettered on it and several autographs from his Senior season team. Below that he hung several framed documents. Both of his diplomas from Boston University, and what appeared to be a letter of commendation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which he hung improperly.

"Agent Nichols, that document is upside down."

_"I know,"_ was his reply stepping down off the stool and reaching into a box, despite the faux pas that adorns his office. He places four pictures on his desk. One of a female gymnast, another was of two hockey players. The other two were portraits, one of an elegantly dressed young couple. The last was another portrait the same couple, this time at least a decade older and with a very young boy in the woman's lap. Monet picked up that latter.

"Is this a portrait of your family Agent Nichols?"

"Yes," he replied taking the photo from her. "This is my mother Clementine Emerson-Nichols, and my father, Tobias Cabbott Nichols, III."

"You have very lovely parents, Agent Nichols. They must be very proud of your work with the Secret Service."

"I can only hope they are, Monet. This portrait was taken shortly before they died. I was only five years old then. I went to live with my Aunt and Uncle after that."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his composure. "Thank you for your assistance, Miss. St. Croix. Please lead the way."

* * *

Monet led the Secret Service agent passed the infirmary, where he met up with Cyrus and the rest of the new academy students, and Admiral Kaulalona, who was supervising Stewart adjusting ice packs on the right side of Jason's jaw, and Alea's left hand.

"There, good as new, now you," he spoke to the Hawaiian. "_DON'T MELT IT!_ And **YOU**!" he turned to Jason. _**"STOP BEING A TROU D'CUL!"**_

"HEY! Is it my fault she still gets mad just thinking about it!?"

**"YES!"**

Agent Nichols knocks on the infirmary's open door frame.

"Hi ya, Lariat!"

"Good evening, Cyrus, everyone. Is there anything I can help with in here, Admiral Kaulalona?"

"Do you posses the ability to reverse time so that their first encounter can be avoided, Agent Nichols?

"No."

"Then there is little you can do here. Come on, all of you, Form for chow!"

* * *

As Monet and the seven newcomers entered the Dinning Hall, they saw that the X-Men were already seated, scattered throughout the large dinning table with the rest of the academy students. Jubilee in the middle of it all, retelling the story of four of their new friend's encounter.

"…Then, Alea gets _SOOO_ angry, she flies off and by the time we get to Yoink's room, she significantly injures her significant other! _**POW**_!" she drives home her story smacking her fist into her hand, then she notices they all have entered the room. "Well, well! Speak of the devils! How's the fist, Champ?"

"Well, it's fine but it's my jaw that smarts."

"She was talking about, Alea, Stupide!"

"Yea, yea, yea. She can sucker punch me over ancient history, big deal! I can take her two-out-of-three falls!"

_"I'd bet my piggy-bank on Alea in a cage match any day,"_ Cyrus whispers to Kordel.

_Why, thank you, Kulo,_ the telepathic message rings in the young man's mind. _but I'd wait for three-to-one odds first!_

"Thank ye all for coming," Sean began. "Tis grand that we have so many friends this night. We of course have several members of the X-Men here," He mentioned to the guests, nodding at Logan and Ororo two of his classmates at the Xavier Mansion in New York all those years ago. "and our original academy students as we welcome six new family members to the fold," he gestured to the new students and new instructor. "And of course a welcome back to an old familiar face." He nodded towards Jubilee sitting between Jean and Logan.

"Now if you all would please join Emma and me in a toast."

They all stood and raised their champagne flutes, filled with Apple Cider.

"To good friends, old and new!"

_**"To good friends, old and new!"**_ Echoes throughout the room.

* * *

_End of Part One_

Part two of the "BMOC" Series_** "Stronger Than Hate, More Powerful Than Love" **_is now posted._**  
**_

_**©David D. Amaya 2008**_


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